No. 18 Ducks Battle Past Arizona in Four

TUCSON, Ariz. — The No. 18 Oregon volleyball team pushed its winning streak to four with Friday's four-set road victory (25-18, 19-25, 25-20, 26-24) over Arizona. With the result, the Ducks improve to 14-5 this season with an 8-3 mark in Pac-12 play. Mimi Colyer led all players with 18 kills, and Oregon won its fifth-consecutive match against Arizona, the program's longest streak in the all-time series.
 
The Ducks benefitted from a season-high nine service aces in Friday's match to go along with a 13.0 total team blocks, including the match-winning stuff. Colyer and Elise Agi each had four aces. Conversely, and for the first time this season, UO did not allow an ace to its opponent. Karson Bacon and Colby Neal tied for the team lead with five blocks apiece.
 
Libero Georgia Murphy picked up a match-high 19 digs in four sets while Hannah Pukis, back in the UO lineup for the first time since Oct. 7, registered a double-double with 46 assists and 12 digs. With her third dig of match, Murphy moved into sixth place on the UO all-time digs list. She passed Amy McNeel Barnes (1993-95/1,346) and now has 1,363 career digs.
 
How It Happened: The teams split the first two sets Friday, and the UO offense was struggling with at .052 after the second. The Ducks responded with a .378 hitting percentage in the third frame. With the score tied at 14-all, Oregon put together a four-point run featuring four kills including two from Brooke Nuneviller.
 
Nuneviller, playing back in her home state, ended the night with 13 kills, eight digs and a block.
 
Arizona (12-10, 2-9) pulled to within two—UO leading 19-17—but the Ducks rattled off five of the next six points, grabbing a handful of set points at 24-18 after a block by Bacon and Pukis. The Wildcats saved two sets points but on the third opportunity, Colyer put Oregon up 2-1 with a kill.
 
After a back-and-forth start to the fourth frame, the Ducks turned a 10-10 tie into a 13-10 advantage on back-to-back-to-back kills from Kiari Robey, Morgan Lewis and Colyer. The surge caused Arizona to call a timeout. Oregon pushed its lead to 17-12 after an attack error by the home team, and eventually, got to match point—four to be exact—at 24-20.
 
However, the Wildcats wiped out all four match points and pulled even at 24-all. Pukis turned to Lewis on the ensuing rally who put away her ninth kill of the night to give UO its fifth match point. The Ducks secured the victory when Colyer and Bacon combined for the final block.
 
Notable: Off the bench, Lewis put down nine kills in the final two sets on 17 swings with just one error. She finished the night with a .471 hitting percentage. In an uncharacteristic off-night for the offense, UO hit below .200 for just the third time this season (.188) but picked up its first win when doing so.
 
Up Next: The Ducks' weekend on the road continues Sunday at Arizona State. First serve is scheduled for 1 p.m. and will be available as a Pac-12 Insider broadcast. Oregon is back at Matthew Knight Arena next Friday, Nov. 4, to host Washington. Click HERE for the Ducks' full schedule.
 
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